Whilst I am always happy to see anything Steptoe related on the TV and hopefully creating new interest, why remake a Winters tale? In one of this weeks TV guides a person from the BBC said "The script still exists, however the footage vanished decades ago" even a quick YouTube search would debunk that, nevermind the VHS and DVD releases. This baffling talk only strengthens my long held belief that the BBC really have no clue what they have in their archives. Even more galling is the fact that for the money theyve spent remaking a lost episode that was never lost (not since the b+w recordings were handed to them) theey couldve used that money on restoring colour on those episodes. Myself and every other Steptoe fanatic continue to search for these, the Holy grail to people like us, but the way the BBC act I would be scared to send them back in fear of them disappearing again!

Hang on....I didn't write that . Archie, it seems that when you responded to my comments you deleted them almost entirely and attached your reply to my screen name. Hope I didn't write something that offended you because I wasn’t being facetious.I really do love British cooking and couldn’t disagree more with the tired cliche that all food there is dreary. Although to be honest, the idea of jellied eels creeps me out, the visual it conjures up is a bit too reminiscent of H.P. Lovecraft to be a meal, even for this horror movie fan .

The BBC not only have the black and white version we have on Dvd but the ENTIRE colour episode is now back in their possession. They could have just shown that instead... I refused to watch the remake and never will.

I have to say that the other two - Till Death... and Hancock - were very well done IMHO. I was pretty certain Hancock would be, because Kevin McNally has form on doing a very credible Tony. I was quite impressed with Simon Day et all in Till Death... too. But I was worried about A Winter's Tale though, and watching it my fears were entirely justified.

The one highlight therein was Jeff Rawle, who at least kept it from being a total disgrace with a pretty good approximation of Wilfrid's Albert. But who the hell thought Ed Coleman could hold a candle to Harry as Harold? There was no life in his performance at all, no energy, no characterisation. Had he seen the original performance on DVD? If so, you'd never know. Harold's skis were less wooden than he was!

Following the originals was never going to be easy. But it can be done - Jason Isaacs IMHO was brilliant in The Curse of Steptoe as Harry / Harold. If you're not going to do a damn good impersonation of the original, you've got to bring something equally good and new to the role. All Ed Coleman brought was 100% boredom. I hope he doesn't get any good offers of work out of what amounted to just turning up on the night to be counted, because off the back of this all he deserves - IMO - is to be counted out.

Saw the episode when transmitted. I thought it was a fair representation of the episode although not a patch on the original. The two actors were good, never seen or heard of the one who played Harold before, but I found him a little too static and light-weight to be Harry H. Former Billy Liar actor (Jeff Rawle) was very good. He did sound very much like Albert, but obviously looked nothing like him with his thicker stature and obvious beard, although had his mannerisms & voice down to a tee on certain occasions. Not a surprise really as he was from that golden sitcom generation in the 70s and most likely met both stars personally.